News quiz for week ending 11/4/11

Questions

1. Several Israeli military analysts this week suggested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s real motive for exchanging over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit was to:
a) appease Hamas leaders
b) get Schalit home so Israel could launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities
c) prove to the Palestinians and the world that he wants peace
d) return them to their families

2. During his Middle East trip this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Israeli officials that President Obama:
a) said the Israelis should use any means necessary to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities
b) doesn’t believe that the Iranian government is attempting to develop nuclear weapons
c) said that any steps against Iran’s nuclear program must be taken in coordination with the international community
d) thinks Iranian President Ahmadinejad is a level-headed leader who would never use nuclear weapons to attack Israel

3. The October snowfall in the Northeast has resulted in all but which of the following?
a) some towns canceled trick or treating on Halloween
b) many schools were closed the Monday after the storm
c) homes and businesses lost electricity for a day to a week
d) helped win the World Record for the largest number of snowmen built in one day

4. More than _____________ homes and businesses in the Northeast lost power due to this weekend’s early snowstorm.
a) three million
b) three hundred
c) three hundred million
d) three

5. The factors contributing to a global sugar shortage this year and a price increase include all but:
a) a rise in demand for sugar from emerging economies including India and China
b) attacks on sugar cane fields by al Qaeda terrorists who say sugar is a product used only by infidels
c) adverse growing conditions in some of the major sugar producing countries, including drought or flooding
d) a growing backlash in the U.S. to the use of high-fructose corn syrup

7. The night before its latest issue hit newsstands, the offices of a French weekly newspaper were destroyed by a firebomb. The attack is believed to have been committed by:
a) Catholics angry at the paper’s continual mockery of church leaders
b) a group of bibliophiles who are opposed to the digitization of the news
c) Islamists angry at the depiction of Mohammed in this week’s issue
d) Atheists angry that no one makes an effort to mock them

8. French officials have responded to the bombing of the newspaper office in Paris by
a) shrugging their shoulders and waving their arms helplessly in the air
b) denouncing the attack and promising that the perpetrators will be brought to justice
c) vowing to put an end to the satirization of Mohammed in any future publications
d) telling the editor “It’s your own fault – you shouldn’t mock anyone’s religion”

9. This Wednesday’s nation-wide test of the Emergency Alert System is unusual because:
a) there has never been a national activation of the system
b) it is the first time an Emergency Alert System will be broadcast over TV and radio at the same time
c) most Americans have never heard an Emergency Alert System test before
d) it will be used to warn people of the dangers of consuming foods high in trans-fats

10. The purpose of Wednesday’s nation-wide Emergency Alert System test is to:
a) ensure that every household has at least one HDTV
b) let Americans know that, should there ever be a national emergency, the government will notify us
c) justify the existence of the DHS, FCC, FEMA and other agencies of the federal government
d) evaluate the reliability and effectiveness of the system in alerting the public